The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution should be repealed.

Pros

Cons

The Second Amendment is an anachronism.

The Second Amendment's precise meaning is too unclear for it to be of use.

The 2nd amendment is already effectively meaningless. "Arms" is a much larger category than it was in 1791. We already prohibit citizens from owning the vast majority of military arms, from RPGs to tanks, jets, missiles, and the list goes on. So the 2nd amendment is already being selectively ignored. The true debate and question should be about what level of arms control we want for our citizens. The right to bear arms is already limited.

The Second Amendment and the right it protects enables much violence in the US.

The Second Amendment prevents the government from enacting laws that protect their citizens from gun violence.

The Second Amendment has racist origins.

Other countries allow their citizens to own and use guns for self-defense and sports without a constitutional guarantee like the Second Amendment.

The version of the Bill of Rights sent to the states to be ratified contained a typo that completely changes the literal context of the second amendment. It is entirely possible that, technically speaking, the exact second amendment text used today in the US constitution was never actually ratified by the states.

The amendment says that a well-regulated militia is necessary for the security of a free state. The right to bear arms is based on that assumption. But the assumption is clearly wrong, since there hasn't been a well-regulated militia in the US for quite a while. So how can it be necessary? The amendment is factually incorrect.

Not having a guarantee to bear arms puts potential victims at risk of being unable to defend themselves.

Several industries in America benefit from the Second Amendment and its implications. Repealing the Amendment would hurt those industries.

The Second Amendment secures fundamental rights and is part of America's social contract between government and citizens

Gun ownership is a fundamental part of being an American.

The right to bear arms is essential to protect a free society against external as well as internal threats.

The second amendment should be amended to take into account changing priorities, but not repealed.

Repealing the 2nd Amendment would not change much at all in the United States. Over 40 states have an unambiguous equivalent to the 2nd Amendment which protects "individual" right to bear arms. If you wanted to repeal this right, you'd have to also repeal 2nd Amendment equivalent in the state constitutions as well.

Responsible citizens should not lose protection of their rights due to the actions of criminals.